With today's constantly advancing technology, the ability to duplicate CD's and DVD's in your own home has become fairly easy. Most home printers have the ability to print on CD labels (and some directly on disc) and disc burning software and hardware is also available. However, there are many variables that come into play that will probably make you reconsider doing it yourself.
Quality
The first and most important thing to consider is the quality of your final disc compared to a disc professionally duplicated. Most home printers are inkjet printers which not only take a long time to print but they also use up a lot of ink. Inkjet printers are also not waterproof or UV protected unless you coat the discs yourself. The actual quality of the print itself is another thing to look at. Unless you have incredibly high-grade equipment you will not be able to create the print quality like you would see on your favorite band's CD if you print the Disc. For high quality printing, it is necessary to offset or screen printing or thermal printing. The quality of the CD itself is also a problem. Through your local electronic store you can find different types of CDs produced by different companies. Many of them are less than CD quality, but they are popular because they are very cheap to buy wholesale. Most CD duplication companies use a high quality wheels for better sound and better playing.
Time
Asmuch is your time worth? CD duplication or DVD duplication is a time consuming process. First you have to get the bulk media and the labels or ink cartridges or whatever you need for printing. Then you need to actually copy your CD or DVD which a standard computer can usually do one or two at a time. Each CD will probably take a few minutes to copy and then another few minutes to print. And that is just for the disc itself, you will also need to design and print the packaging and assemble the whole thing which will also take some extra time. When copying two or three copies for your friends this may not seem like a very big deal but when you need 500 or 1000 copies for music promotion or business promotion, it could take weeks to complete this. A CD duplication company can have 1000 CD's printed, packaged and retail ready within a few days. You can now use all of that time you would have spent copying and printing CD's to do something more productive for your band or business.
Price
One last thing you should look at is the price and price differences. To copy CD's yourself you will probably end up spending about $0.25 to $0.30 each for just the blank CD's. Then you will probably need an ink cartridge which can run anywhere from $30 to $180 each. Printable CD labels usually go for around $0.50 to $0.75 each (broken down from 20 for like $15). Then you will also need jewel cases which usually run for about $0.40 or $0.50 a piece. Then on top of all that you will still need to print the front inserts and the tray cards which is going to use more paper and more ink. These prices are all taken from random retail stores so you may be able to find a few of these supplies cheaper or more expensive; but through a CD duplication company, you can get 1000 CD's completely packaged and retail ready for as low as $0.85 per CD and you don't have to do any work or wait for very long to get your discs.
As you can see, it is possible to do CD duplication or DVD duplication yourself but if you need a couple hundred discs or more you are going to save yourself a lot of time, money and stress by finding a reliable, professional CD duplication company to do the work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment